How to read out a double negation in propositional logic

Question

How would one verbally say ~~R where R = my program is correct? The tildes are negation symbols. I'm not sure if it just cancels out and comes out as 'my program is correct' or if it's something else.

Thank you!

score 22 · Answer 1 · answered May 10 '16 at 20:01

22

The answer by @D.W. is valid in classical logic, however if you are on the intuitionistic side, then you can't eliminate double negation (~~).

I'd read the formula as 'It is not true that my program is not correct'.

answered May 10 '16 at 20:01

Anton Trunov

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score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered May 10 '16 at 16:59

One way to pronounce "~" is as "not", so one could pronounce that as "not not R".

But frankly, pronouncing complex logic formulas can be ugly, and often it's better to just write it on a whiteboard or piece of paper and point.

Yes, ~~R is equivalent to R.

How to read out a double negation in propositional logic

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